The SEA ORGANIZATION (SEA ORG) is a legally nonexistent Scientology
organization, which the Church of
ScientologyScientology describes as a
"fraternal religious order , comprising the church's most dedicated
members". All
ScientologyScientology management organizations are controlled
exclusively by members of the Sea Org.
David MiscavigeDavid Miscavige , the de facto
leader of Scientology, is the highest-ranking
Sea OrgSea Org officer, holding
the rank of captain.

The organization has been described by some as a paramilitary and
as a private naval force, having operated several vessels in its past
and displaying a maritime tradition. Some ex-members and scholars have
described the
Sea OrgSea Org as a totalitarian organization marked by
intensive surveillance and a lack of freedom.

In a 1992 memorandum by the Church of
ScientologyScientology International , the
following information was provided to the Internal Revenue Service
with regards to nature of the Sea Org:

does not have an ecclesiastical organizing board or command channels
chart or secular existence such as an incorporated or unincorporated
association. Although there is no such "organization" as the Sea
Organization, the term
Sea OrgSea Org has a colloquial usage which implies
that there is. There are general recruitment posters and literature
for "The Sea Org" which implies that people will be employed by the
Sea OrgSea Org when in reality they will join, making the billion year
commitment, at some church that is staffed by
Sea OrgSea Org members and
become employees of that church corporation. The
Sea OrgSea Org exists as a
spiritual commitment that is factually beyond the full understanding
of the Service or any other but a trained and audited Scientologist.

In 1971, the
Sea OrgSea Org assumed responsibility for the ecclesiastical
development of the church, and in particular the delivery of the upper
levels of its auditing and training, known as the
Operating Thetan or
"OT" levels. In 1981, under the aegis of the Commodore\'s Messenger
Organization led by David Miscavige, the
Sea OrgSea Org dissolved the
Guardian\'s Office (GO) and assumed full responsibility for the
international management of the Church, later reassigning the duties
of the GO to the
Office of Special Affairs in 1983 during the
corporate restructuring of the Church.

It moved to land-based organizations in 1975, though maritime customs
persist, with many members wearing naval-style uniforms and addressing
both male and female officers as "sir." In 1985, the church purchased
a 440-foot (130 m) motor vessel , the
Freewinds , which docks in
CuraçaoCuraçao in the southern Caribbean and is used as a religious retreat
and training center, staffed entirely by
Sea OrgSea Org members. Sea Org
members make a lifetime commitment to
ScientologyScientology by signing a
billion-year contract that is officially described as a symbolic
pledge. In exchange, members are given free room and board, and a
small weekly allowance.
Sea OrgSea Org members agree to strict codes of
discipline, such as disavowing premarital sex , working long hours (on
average at least 100 hours per week) and living in communal housing,
referred to as "berthings". They are allowed to marry, but must
relinquish their membership if they have or want to raise children.

J. Gordon Melton writes that
ScientologyScientology is an esoteric Gnostic
system based on the belief that the self, or thetan , is trapped in
what it calls MEST : matter, energy, space and time.
ScientologyScientology aims
to restore the thetan to a state of "total freedom" from MEST through
long courses of study and auditing , which rid the thetan of "engrams
", recordings of distressing experiences from this and previous lives.
The first significant aim of this training is the state of "Clear ".
Hubbard developed higher levels of training in the Sea Org, enabling
the subject to live as an
Operating Thetan (OT). An OT is said by the
church to be able to experience the self outside the constraints of
the body, a process Scientologists call "exteriorization".

According to Hubbard, much of the galaxy was ruled tens of millions
of years ago by the Galactic Confederacy, comprising 26 stars and 76
planets, including Earth, then known as
Teegeeack . The confederacy
was controlled by a tyrant named
Xenu , who sent people from other
planets to Earth because of over-crowding. Their souls attached
themselves in clusters to human bodies, so that each person on Earth
became a collection of entities, rather than a single personality.
Part of the mission of
ScientologyScientology is to rid people of these extra
entities, known as body thetans . Religious scholar
Hugh Urban writes
that the
Sea OrgSea Org resembles a group within the Galactic Confederacy,
known as the "Loyal Officers" who overthrew Xenu. Urban also
describes the Sea Org, with the naval uniforms and ranks, as an
idealized re-creation of Hubbard\'s own World War II military career .
He also states that the
Sea OrgSea Org is reminiscent of the "Soldiers of
Light" in Hubbard's science fiction story collection Ole Doc
Methuselah .

Stephen A. Kent (2001) argues that at least part of the reason for
the establishment of the
Sea OrgSea Org was that the Church of Scientology's
practices encountered resistance from the American Food and Drug
Administration and the IRS, and from the governments of Australia, the
United Kingdom, and Rhodesia. Sailing on the high seas meant the
church could escape their attention.

In 2000 the number of
Sea OrgSea Org members was listed at around 7,000. As
of 2009, the number was listed by the church at around 5,000. Most
Sea OrgSea Org members reside in church complexes in Los Angeles, Clearwater,
Copenhagen, London, Saint Hill, and Sydney, with some at smaller
centers or on assignment elsewhere.

STRUCTURE

ESTATES PROJECT FORCE

All new recruits are required to complete compulsory novitiate before
they are allowed to join the Sea Org, which has been described as a
boot camp . During this phase, recruits are not yet considered to be
Sea OrgSea Org members, and are required to address all
Sea OrgSea Org members,
regardless of rank, as "sir" as well as having to run everywhere
instead of walking. Married couples are separated for the duration of
the EPF and are not allowed to have private or intimate contact with
each other.

While on the EPF, recruits perform five hours of manual labor every
day, in addition to a five-hour study period that consists of studying
several
ScientologyScientology courses, including the Basic Study Manual, an
introductory course in study tech , Introduction to Scientology
Ethics, a basic course in
ScientologyScientology ethics , as well as courses
concerning the history of the
Sea OrgSea Org and personal hygiene and
grooming. Like the RPF, the EPF does not have a definite schedule. A
recruit graduates the EPF as soon as all the required courses have
been completed and upon successfully undergoing a mandatory security
check, they are then allowed to join the
Sea OrgSea Org as full members. Sea
Org recruits verbally agree to an 18-point code or pledge as part of a
swearing in ceremony. Members formally reaffirm their acceptance of
this code annually on August 12, the day when the organization was
founded.

In 1967 the Church of
ScientologyScientology purchased
HMS Royal Scotsman which
they renamed the Apollo, which was used as the Sea Org's
FlagshipFlagship . In
1975, the church sold the Sea Org's ships and moved the organization
to land bases around the world, which as of 2003, were operating in
Clearwater, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles,
Saint Hill Manor in the
UK, and Sydney, with smaller offices in Budapest, Johannesburg,
Madrid, Milan, Moscow, and Toronto. In 1987, they purchased a ship,
La Bohème, which they renamed
Freewinds .
OT VIII , the highest
auditing level of
ScientologyScientology currently available, is exclusive to the
Freewinds and can only be undertaken there. The ship also hosts
various courses, seminars, conventions and events throughout the year,
including the annual Maiden Voyage celebration.

BILLION-YEAR COMMITMENT

According to Hubbard, the Sea Org's mission is "an exploration into
both time and space".
Sea OrgSea Org members act as goodwill representatives
and administrators of Scientology; all policy and administrative posts
in the church's key organizations are held by
Sea OrgSea Org members. Most
members are given room, board and a weekly allowance of about $75.

In accordance with
ScientologyScientology beliefs , members are expected to
return to the
Sea OrgSea Org when they are reborn; the Sea Org's motto is "We
Come Back". Members must therefore sign a symbolic billion-year
"religious commitment", pledging to "get ethics in on this planet and
the universe." The church contends that the agreement is not a
legally binding contract and is merely a symbolic demonstration of the
dedication members are expected to give to the organization, and that
they are free to leave if they wish. After signing, members report to
the Estates Project Force, the Sea Org's induction program; Melton
writes that members may take several years between signing the
commitment and attending the induction. Once induction is completed,
the final decision to join is made.

Members who leave the
Sea OrgSea Org are issued a "freeloader's bill,"
retroactively billing them for any auditing or training they have
received. Although the bill is not legally enforceable, these
Scientologists may not receive services at any Scientology
organization until they pay the bill and perform an ethics course.

Sea OrgSea Org members may marry one another, but are not permitted to marry
outside the organization; extra-marital sex is also prohibited.
According to Melton, couples with children must leave the
Sea OrgSea Org and
return to other staff positions within the church until the child is
six years old; thereafter the children are raised communally and
allowed to visit their parents in the
Sea OrgSea Org on weekends. Children of
members have themselves joined the
Sea OrgSea Org when they came of age.
Several former members have said they were advised (or even forced) to
have an abortion when they became pregnant to avoid being sent to
lower organizations.
ScientologyScientology presents itself as opposed to
abortion and actively speaks out against it in its publications.

The
Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) was created in January 1974 as
a system of work camps set up by the Sea Org, intended to isolate and
rehabilitate members who have not lived up to the church's
expectations, have failed security checks , or have violated certain
policies. Melton writes that the RPF areas are located within Sea Org
facilities, and that there are no locks on the doors.

Many ex-
Sea OrgSea Org members have reported gruelling treatment. According
to Melton, there are eight hours of physical work – such as
painting, plumbing, and upkeep of grounds – six days a week; the
work may involve teaching the member a skill such as carpentry.
Members also spend five hours a day studying with or auditing a
partner. Former Scientologist
Jon Atack argued, in A Piece of Blue
Sky (1990), that treatment of
Sea OrgSea Org members in the RPF was a
"careful imitation of techniques long-used by the military to obtain
unquestioning obedience and immediate compliance to orders, or more
simply to break men's spirits ..." One former member, Gerry Armstrong
, said that during his time in the
Sea OrgSea Org in the 1970s he spent over
two years banished to the RPF as a punishment:

It was essentially a prison to which crew who were considered
nonproducers, security risks, or just wanted to leave the Sea Org,
were assigned. Hubbard's RPF policies established the conditions. RPF
members were segregated and not allowed to communicate to anyone else.
They had their own spaces and were not allowed in normal crew areas of
the ship. They ate after normal crew had eaten, and only whatever was
left over from the crew meal. Their berthing was the worst on board,
in a roach-infested, filthy and unventilated cargo hold. They wore
black boilersuits, even in the hottest weather. They were required to
run everywhere. Discipline was harsh and bizarre, with running laps of
the ship assigned for the slightest infraction like failing to address
a senior with "Sir." Work was hard and the schedule rigid with seven
hours' sleep time from lights out to lights on, short meal breaks, no
liberties and no free time ...

When one young woman ordered into the RPF took the assignment too
lightly, Hubbard created the RPF's RPF and assigned her to it, an even
more degrading experience, cut off even from the RPF, kept under
guard, forced to clean the ship's bilges , and allowed even less
sleep.

Lawrence Wright wrote in The New Yorker in 2011 that the
Sea OrgSea Org used
small children drawn from
ScientologyScientology families for what the article
described as forced child labour. The article described extremely
inhumane conditions, with children spending years in the Sea Org,
sequestered from mainstream life.

* Dawson 2006, p. 38: "Members of the paramilitary
Sea OrgSea Org sign
billion-year contracts of absolute loyalty and service to the highest
leadership of the Church of Scientology."
* Former member Aaron Judge in Squires, 29 November 2009: "The Sea
Org is like a military organization. You live in cramped quarters, are
served food in the cafeteria area and you basically work from 8:30 in
the morning through to 11:15 at night."
* Former
ScientologyScientology auditor Bruce Hines in Cooper, 2 December 2005:
"It's very much a military organization. You wear a uniform, there's
saluting, marching, standing at attention."

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